The long-awaited OpenDocument translation plugin for Microsoft Office has been …

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Fans of the OpenDocument file format first popularized by OpenOffice rejoiced when it was announced that an open-source plugin was being developed that would allow Microsoft Office users to save files in that format. The plugin is being developed by the OpenDocument Foundation. Unfortunately for OD fans, the plugin has been delayed and will not be ready until January 2007.

The plugin is of particular interest to the Massachusetts government, which has been pounding the OpenDocument drum for some time now. For those who haven't been following the story, a quick recap: Massachusetts, who had been using Microsoft Office for years, decided that they were going to standardize on "open" file formats. A few months later, they said that Microsoft Office XML 2003 was an acceptable format, but then decided that only OpenDocument and PDF were acceptable formats, then the biggest ODF proponent decided to quit, then the government admitted that Microsoft's Office XML format was probably going to be "open" enough after all, then they announced that they were still planning to "migrate" to ODF, then recently announced that they would stick with Microsoft Office after all but use an ODF plugin to save files in that format. If you're still following all that, I'm impressed.

The OpenDocument Foundation aren't the only ones working on an OpenDocument plugin for Office. Microsoft itself is sponsoring an open-source plugin by partnering with a French company called Clever Age.